Placeholder for the final TV episode of the longest regularly-running American Sci-Fi series. Tonight, SG-1 and company attempt to paralyze the entire Ori fleet with the help of an Asgard time dilation device.
The episode is not a cliffhanger, but has ened up being the de facto ender. We'll see how it pans out!
Mark
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Here's the 30-second trailer from Youtube. Minor spoilers included:
Whatever SG-1 is doing, one wonders why Landry has centre seat on the Odyssey. Did they leave in a hurry? usually they put the CO in a jumpsuit... Shouldn't he at least be wearing his bomber jacket?
Mark
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Watched it last night, and you know what? I can't bring myself to spoil it. It's one worth waiting for.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
I'm having trouble too. For an unplanned series ender, it's perhaps the most appropriate, well-done series ender I can think of since "All Good Things...". Wonderful character piece, with tons of arc developments and giant space battles to boot.
I *will* get around to it... It'll just take a while for the emotional impact to settle in.
Mark
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
Oh that was clever, realy clever.
And Mark, you're dead right, it's up there with AGT.
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
Its "Unending", not "Endless"
And man, that was an awesome episode. I was teary at the end. Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
Did we really like it that much? I don't think I did. The season-ender where Vala sacrifices herself to blow up the super-gate was cooler and in my opinion, had higher emotional stakes. Was this sprung on them out of the blue that the season could be over? Did they have a couple more eps planned and then plugs pulled to make the movies?
I was looking for some sort of punctuation for the series end. This wasn't even a comma. There were some things I liked, but it didn't end the series for me. It was, I felt a good mid-series episode with a corn-ball ending tacked on replete with a parade of (ironic?) clich�s.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
I wouldn't call it mindblowing or anything. There's no great apocolyptic showdown or galaxy wide conflagration, as some might wish for. However given the relative short notice I imagine they had to make this a show ender and the fact they had to cram it into a single episode instead of the traditional two parter, I think they did very well and it was a very nice character piece. Shanks especially got to stretch his acting legs with an outburst that I don't think we've ever seen coming from Daniel in 10 years!
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
He was very entertainingly angry a few weeks ago when he blew up at the hostages SG-1 took in "Bad Guys".
Mark
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
I guess maybe I never got the full scoop on what happened at the end here. I mean with the cancellation and now there will be movie(s). Anyone care to summarize?
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
The show had just finished airing the first half of the season. It was the mid-season break and they were filming the second half. The word came down from on high that an eleventh season wasn't ordered and SG-1 was cancelled. There was a search by the producers of the show to get either an eleventh season with another network, big screen movie(s), or TV movies. No other network seemed to want to take on SG-1; either that or Sci-Fi stepped in first and said that it would greenlight two direct to DVD movies with the potential to be aired sometime.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I heard that sci-fi actually stepped in and PREVENTED them from going to any other network.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Don't forget that a THIRD Stargate series is in the works...
Mark
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Well after 3 months sitting on my harddrive - I finally watched "Unending".
Wonderful.
I was a bit upset to see bx not liking it - I don't know why - it's his opinion - but I just would think - who could not like this as an ending to a series. It was character driven not explosion-based. It was brilliant. They all had their acting moments. It was subtle, yet devastating. It does Indeed rank up there with All Good Things... and it's not a SAD (for the fans) ending - because as much as I stopped myself from watching it cause it was the last SG1 ever - I'm glad I finally watched it - it was just another episode, y'know - but it summed things up nicely - maybe not plot lines etc but it showed SG-1 as a family. I loved the scenes around the table.
I *ADORED* the look on Sam's face when she replicated the Cello - brilliant. I was generally shocked that it took them so long to accomplish the task. When we saw them all old - I mean firstly General Landry but then all of them.
I really loved the effect seeing Carter play the cellow through the window outside of the ship.
I wonder what Daniel DID find in the Asgard databanks - could he not have given a piece of paper to Teal'c to take back with some of the more important points?
One thing they sort of did away with the Asgard pretty quickly - we know they were on the way out - but it was like "see-ya" BOOM! Couldn't they have at least attacked the Ori Vessels before self-destructing? Does ANYONE think there is ANY chance that they haven't REALLY gone - maybe hiding like the Nox? POSSIBLY the Ancients help them to Ascend?? They did say that they didn't have the physiology to Ascend and that they preferred to extend their life through artificial means - but I presume that the Ancients did that themselves with all their medical technology?
Will Teal'c be affected in combat now - I mean Bra'tac can still fight with the best of them.
I really was touched by this episode. It ended nicely - I rather liked the 'sayings'. The full cast 'indeed' was a touch corny - but really great. I find myself saying that sometimes anyway!
I also liked it because it was a sense of "off into the sunset" on another mission at the end... like it's not really an END per se, and we all know there will be the movies.
Thankyou Stargate SG-1 I've loved every minute of your show. Wow - 10 years went by so quickly!
Andrew
Posted by Zipacna (Member # 1881) on :
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: Does ANYONE think there is ANY chance that they haven't REALLY gone - maybe hiding like the Nox?
I'm hoping that somewhere hidden in all that data the Asgard left behind are at least a few Asgard minds, sort of an insurance policy should the Tauri ever work out an answer (we can, after all, think outside the box in a way the Asgard simply can't). I'd hope the Asgard would have had the sense to leave the minds of a few of themselves there so that sometime in the future they could be reborn...they never struck me as a species that would simply give up.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Interesting - haven't we seen twice the Asgard having their consciousness stored in computer systems? Infact the very ability to download consciousnesses into new body every so many years suggests some sort of storage buffer is probably involved.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
It was a good concept for the finale, but the setup to get there made no sense at all. The Asgard are dying, and decide to kill themselves. As others have pointed out, they can download their consciousnesses to machines! Given that, there is no reason for them to EVER die. Further, in order to give Earth their technology, they summon an Earth ship to their homeworld (Which is in the Milky Way now? What the hell?), load it up, and say, off you go, good luck not being intercepted! Why not send their own fleet to Earth with it, as an escort? Or for that matter, why not use the FRIKIN' STARGATE!
Aside from that, it was a very good episode. Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mark Nguyen: He was very entertainingly angry a few weeks ago when he blew up at the hostages SG-1 took in "Bad Guys".
Mark
God, I *loved* that scene. I laughed till I teared up.
And about the Asgard homeworld - It *isn't* in the Milky Way; you distinctly hear mention that the ship has "passed back into the Milky Way" during their journey. Also, they explicitly said that the Asgard power core wouldn't fit through the gate, so they had to travel by ship. But you're right about the escort - you'd think in fact they could have *given* the Tau'ri what's left of their fleet outright.
I'm interested to see if the Asgard knowledgebase will come up in Atlantis, being cross-referenced with the Ancient database and so forth to create new nifty little blinkenlights. And I think it's about time to reveal the Stargate to the world, too - while I loved Stargate for, among many other things, being present-day and in secret so you could imagine it happening for real, I also used to love it for how little technology the Tau'ri had, and they managed to get them up to galactic standards without ruining the show, so I think the writers could pull off the revealing of the Stargate as well. (The President beaming out of the function onto Air Force One in The Road not Taken was just really cool... ;P)
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I enjoyed Shanks' acting in that scene, but the dialogue was a bit overboard, even for a wink-wink-nudge-nudge fan-pleasing scene in a series finale. He was just way too cruel there, even if it was spot-on. It seemed very nearly out of character.
My only other complaint is why the Asgard didn't ask for O'Neill to be there for the "passing of the torch" or whatever you want to call it. He was the one who got the Asgard's attention and respect in the first place, after all. But I guess Richard Dean Anderson didn't feel like doing another episode... Oh well.
Anyway, this was still a very fine episode, and a wonderful send-off. I greatly enjoyed it!
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Okay, I'll grant that I may have missed the comment about returning to the Milky Way. But then why did the Ori show up there? It seemed they couldn't track the Odyssey until after they had the Asgard core aboard, and they shouldn't have had any reason to go find them. Unless maybe the Asgard said "Hey, morons, over here!" in order to catch them in the explosion...
And as for the core fitting through the gate, that's lame. It's the frikin' ASGARD. They can find some way to put their knowledge in a package slightly smaller than the, what, 5 meter gate? Giving the fleet would have made much more sense as a plot.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
They SO didn't have to have the Asgard die off COMPLETELY... that sorta puts a dent into this otherwise fine episode. The set up was so unnecessary. Actually quite annoys me now that I think about it more. It was a rather "Tasha Yar" death for the Asgard.
ALSO - if the Ori can follow them to the Asgard galaxy - then why did they need to build supergates?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
So, like, that was actually the season finale? Really? The end of the whole show? Because, I mean. . . I'm totally with Mr. BX here. This was a fine episode, but, uh, wasn't there some sort of plot going on this season? They didn't even promote the movie(s) during it, so I'd imagine casual fans feel like the show just disappeared midsentence. (Assuming the show has casual fans.)
But taken just on its own, I liked it a lot.
(Though, in that scene where Vala is crying and Daniel is comforting her, based on his earlier performance, I assume he was saying something like "You know how I can get when you make me angry, and you know I don't mean it. Now let's go get some ice for that eye, OK?")
((Also, is the spinoff "Stargate: Starship Unstoppable", I wonder?))
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
I get the feeling that it was meant to send the same message as the last episode of Farscape...ironically. The message being "We didn't want to go now, we didn't plan on going now and we're not changing our plans. We'll be back" Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I think the scene with Daniel was very good, considering the loss he suffered and then the 'games' Vala had played with him before. Reaching a breaking point like that was well done,with her past I can see why he was so leary.
As for the Asgard, with the narrow minded thinking that they developed, a mass suicide makes a bit of sense, especially if they don't want their tech to fall in to undeserving hands. I would have preferred to see them, at least some of them, go out battling the Ori. Transfering too much in to machines, after the near loss to the replicators, wouldn't have fit very well.
On the point of being there without Jack, and Landry dressed in Blues, it fit well with dialog. A political battle ws fought over giving the tech and info to the Fifth Race, with the pro Asgard winning by a narrow margin. A last minute 'Get here and get this stuff before we do what we do.' works. This is also why a too large unit and not giving the fleet to SG-1 worked.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Still think the Asgard could have just given the ships to Earth or yes, at least go out fighting. What about all the Asgard-protected planets... what happens to them? Is that now Earth's job? They wiped out all those Mother Ships of Heru'ur quick smart. Where is that tech?
Does this also mean we wont see any more Hermiod on the Daedelus?
Andrew
P.S. - Did I miss something in the episode - Wikipedia says this: "It was shown in Unending that Asgard beam weaponry is capable of destroying Ori Motherships." When did they destroy Ori ships in Unending??
Andrew
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
The first was just after the planet blew, when they couldn't engage the hyper drive with the blast radiation, what, 47 seconds to clear it, which they wouldn't have made, so Landry ordered them about to fight.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
The second was after one of the drops out of hyperspace that the Ori ships were waiting for. (Now where were those beam weapons on the Asgard ships that fought at the Battle of P3Y-Whatever?)
Also, I don't think the Ori followed them to the Asgard galaxy. They didn't show up until we were back in the Milky Way. But, we must assume the Ori ships do have intergalactic hyperdrives like the Asgard and Tau'ri ships. I've always just figured the Ori home galaxy is so very far away that even hyperdrive would just take too long.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
quote:Also, I don't think the Ori followed them to the Asgard galaxy. They didn't show up until we were back in the Milky Way.
Yes they did. They were at the Asgard homeworld. Several ships were caught in the explosion.
As for the beam weapons, I'd assume that the Odyssey just did better than the Asgard ship just because it had a ZPM.
Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :
Well, the Ori ships did show up at the Asgard homeworld, long before they said they got back to the Milky Way.
And all this adds to what I've been wondering for the longest time: The Ori have the ability to access the Milky Way's stargate network from their own galaxy. Their motherships have now been shown to possess intergalactic capability. Why haven't they shown up in Pegasus yet?
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
One galaxy at a time.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
quote:Originally posted by Omega:
quote:Also, I don't think the Ori followed them to the Asgard galaxy. They didn't show up until we were back in the Milky Way.
Yes they did. They were at the Asgard homeworld. Several ships were caught in the explosion.
As for the beam weapons, I'd assume that the Odyssey just did better than the Asgard ship just because it had a ZPM.
*smacks himself in the forehead* Label me "Idiot" and stick me in the display case, kay?
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Oh - re the Asgard beam weapons - I was thinking 'where did the Asgard actually fire on the Ori' - but yes of course it was when Landry wanted to see how well the new weapons would work.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
quote:Originally posted by Daniel Butler: *smacks himself in the forehead* Label me "Idiot" and stick me in the display case, kay?
I am sure CC can arrange that.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
For me, the episode as a whole came just short of being excellent. I'm not saying it wasn't good, it just wasn't good enough for a series ending to me.
On the other hand, it did end *exactly* like I thought it should end - with them going through the gate on another mission.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Forgive the thread ressurection, but I just watched it on DVD.
It definitely was an "un-ending". As has been pointed out already, it was like just another epiosde that left completely unanswered the questions of "Are the Ori alive or dead?", "When will Adria the Hot show up again?", and "What's the deal with this Key to Infinite Treasure thing?" I also found the use of the San Graal mid-season to be a bit of a let down considering the build-up it got at the end of season 9. Then they never came back to it. And they completely ignored the fact that if it didn't work, they had just handed the Ori and Ancient-killing machine with a few bits in the wrong place.
Knowing the movies are coming, I don't really even consider this to be the end of the series. The movies are. They were planned after season 10. The two movies are season 11. That simple.
I'm assuming that "The Ark of Truth" is the first of these direct to DVD movies. It was briefly plugged in a trailer on the DVD set. (Must do research on this) One would guess that the titular Ark is part of the Infinite Treasure.
Overall, it was a good episode with lots of great acting. I was curious as to what the crying and hugging scene with Daniel and Vala was too. I'm of the opinion that she got pregnant and had a miscarriage. Or possibly, it was her finally breaking down over her feelings about Adria. Landry's death made me tear up a bit. And I miss Jack.
In answer to other people's questions, the protected planets treaty is probably no longer necessary with most of the Go'auld being toast. It's really a non-issue. Though one feels sorry for the people on the planets still waiting for the Asgard return. Keep talking to those holograms!
The Ori may not even know about the Pegasus Galaxy. They didn't know about the Milky Way until Daniel and Vala showed up.
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